I happened to dig up this video clip from last year's Comic Con, and to my surprise, it featured a brief interview with one of the stars of ABC's Scandal while I was working the red carpet at a Walking Dead party.

Back then, I knew nothing of the show. I had yet to nurture my obsession with Olivia Pope & Associates. Now, in hindsight, I'm enjoying this delayed nerdgasm.

Those three words couldn't be any truer the longer one lives and works in the pop-culture-regurgitating machine that is Hollywood. Why? Well...

After celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hocus Pocus two weeks ago with a bowl of popcorn in bed on a Friday night, I have now learned that Disney is toying with the idea of a sequel. Teenagers of the 90s, proceed to geek out.

Then there's the Charmed reboot over at CBS. Because no one remembers a long-running show that ended, oh, seven frickin' years ago. Alyssa Milano, you have every right to be pissed.

Meanwhile, Lifetime's Witches of East End seems to be enjoying its premiere season, and FX's American Horror Story: Coven is proving to be one hell of a ride (two words: Minotaur sex).

Poor ABC. They must be kicking themselves for prematurely canceling Eastwick a couple of seasons ago.

The Midnight Hour debuted on ABC in 1985, but it wasn't until a few years later when I caught a rerun of it on cable (actually, on Lifetime, when the "television for women" network was known for repeating Reagan era TV movies). And since then, it became one of those vaguely remembered pieces of pop culture I was intrigued by.

The plot was simple: Teens unleash evil spirits on their small town on Halloween night, and the crap. Hits. The. Fan.

The campiness was so good that, if it were a pint of Haagen Dazs, it would be devoured it in one spoonful. Dick Van Patten as a dentist-turned-demon? Shari Belafonte as a vamp? Peter DeLuise as an undead jock? Pure 80s bliss. And let's not forget a pre-TNG LeVar Burton as Vinnie, one of the luckless pranksters who meets his demise in a foggy cemetery -- right before the unforgettably awesome choreographedzombie dance number.

Thank the YouTube gods for making this available to rewatch. I know what I'm doing before going to bed…

I will obviously be clearing my schedule when CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story premieres on VH1 next Monday.

Why? Um...because it looks like a sensationalistic piece of comfort TV that I will consume with relish.

And thanks to the recently released "supertrailer," my excitement has tripled in intensity. Where in God's name did they find that Clive Davis doppelganger (at the 1:20 mark)? Brilliant.

Thank you, cable gods, for enabling my addiction to riding the 90s Nostalgia train for all its worth. Feel free to produce The Ace of Base Chronicles or The Real Real McCoy Story. I will gladly serve as a consultant if need be.

TLC's CrazySexyCool is one of the definitive albums of the 1990s and one of the first CDs I had purchased with my own money (shout out to Nobody Beats The Wiz on Central Avenue in Yonkers!). Everything about it brings me back to high school (the dances, the Discman sessions on the bus rides home), and I cannot wait to relive every flannel-shirt-and-baggy…

Back in March, I was all about Bastille's "Of The Night," an eerily effective mash-up/cover of the 90s dance classics "Rhythm is a Dancer" and "Rhythm of the Night" (by Snap! and Corona, respectively).

And now, nearly half a year later, we have been blessed with one hell of a music video. It's dark, it's gritty, and it perfectly complements the slightly sinister sensibility and melancholy of the song.

The video, beautifully directed by Dave Ma, is like a more cinematic episode of Law & Order in which a veteran police detective drives from crime scene to crime scene, envisioning the bodies of victims singing to him in unison. It's musical noir!

Sure, it's creepy and sad, but it works...and spits in the faces of all the overly glossed pop vids currently clogging up the YouTube channels.

For years now, I have endured dozens and dozens of Facebook posts from friends who are more than happy to share photos from their fabulous vacations, "business trips," or getaway weekends. You know the kind -- those snapshots of the picture taker's legs with a pool in the background...or that hot couple showing off their Speedos off the coast of Mykonos.

Well, it's about time I jump on that bandwagon and serve up some jealousy-inducing pics from my recent 10-day excursion in Peru...

Of course there's more where these came from. And I wouldn't know where to begin in describing one of the most amazing experiences of my life. (Alpaca for dinner! Hiking over salt flats! Being serenaded by a shaman!) It will all be chronicled in a future travel feature or two.
Stay tuned. @TheFirstEcho

Who is The First Echo?

Hiko Mitsuzuka is a self-proclaimed pop culture connoisseur who resides in L.A. and obsesses over pop songs months before everyone else does.
Hiko has worked in TV and commercial production ever since he left his native New York in the early aughts. He has worked at the world-renowned Anonymous Content and freelanced as a treatment writer for award-winning directors, a contributing writer for Instinct, and the Executive Editor of Hotter in Hollywood. Hiko can currently be seen in the roles of Manager of Creative Planning at Stun Creative (PromaxBDA's Agency of the Year, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018), film critic for ScreenPicks, entertainment and travel journalist for Bello Mag, and contributor for The Huffington Post.
His hobbies include quoting sitcom dialogue and stalking people on Instagram. His vices include chocolate chip cookies and movie theater popcorn.
Tweet him @TheFirstEcho.